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The Art of Heads-Up Poker
Welcome to televised poker in a new and exciting format. On Sundays during the month of May, NBC will be broadcasting the “National Heads-Up Poker Championship” — a $20,000 buy-in event featuring one-on-one match-ups between the world’s best poker players.
The format is unique: players will compete in an NCAA-like elimination tournament (losers go home). That will yield a “sweet 16,” an “elite 8,” and a “final 4.” The first show will air in most markets on Sunday, May 1. Amazingly, 60 of the best 60 poker players in the world played in this tournament alongside a few celebrities.
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Knowing When to Fold ‘Em
On Saturday, April 8th, 2000, I did what I hadn’t been able to do for two years: I won a poker tournament. While a year or two drought happens to all the best players in the world, it’s always nice when the dry spell is over.
On my path to victory, the following two hands came up at the final table of the $1,500 buy-in no-limit Hold’em event at the World Poker Open. Both pots were played against a very tough no-limit Hold’em player named David “the Dragon” Pham, and, in combination, the two pots illustrate that you should sometimes fold the best hand in a no-limit Hold’em tournament.
In pot number one, the antes were $100 a man and the blinds were $400-$800. I raised the bet to $2,800 with Kd-10d in my hand, and David called in the big blind with Qc-9c. (For those unfamiliar with Big Blind terminology, David only had to put in the $800 big blind amount to call.)
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The Double Deal: Dealing It Two Times
On a 2004 World Poker Tour-sponsored cruise, the action in the side games was fast and furious. In the old days (well, the cruise ship era of the late ’80s) we called a side game the “buried at sea” game. The 2004 version of buried at sea was a no-limit hold’em game with $100-$200 blinds.
Around 4 a.m. the following one-of-a-kind hand came up. I opened for $600, Alan Cunningham called the bet, Carlos Mortenson made it $3,000, and then Randy Jensen made it $9,000.
I folded, Alan folded, and then Carlos said, with a straight face, “Dealer, please give me one more card.” Everyone sat there stunned for a moment while the dealer gave Carlos another card. The discards were quickly counted, and at this point all of us started laughing out loud! You see, the dealer hadn’t given Carlos his second card yet — this happens sometimes. Carlos had made it $3,000 to go with only one card, and he planned to laugh at us while showing us his one-card bluff — after we all folded!
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Hearing the Smooth Call
In the 1996 World Series of Poker, I was watching my friend John Bonetti play a monster pot against the previous champion Dan Harrington. With only 26 players left in the championship and a $1 million prize up for grabs, Dan raised the bid up to $16,000 to go with Ks-10s, and Bonetti “smooth called” with his A-A.
The “smooth call” tactic refers to when you bid on a strong hand as if it were a mediocre one (calling opponents bets when standard theory says you should be raising them) in order to trick your opponent into thinking your hand is weak, enticing them to bet more.
Smooth calling entails a dangerous risk/reward scenario. By attempting to trap your opponents into betting more on hands they wouldn’t have otherwise, you also leave open the possibility that your competition might hit a lucky card and win.
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A Tale of the False Tell
In October 2000, during a hand in the Taj Mahal Casino’s No Limit Hold’em Championship, I was dealt a pair of fours. With the blinds at $100-$200, four players, including me, called the bet.
With a flop of Qh-4s-2d in the community cards, I checked with my nearly unbeatable hand, two other players checked, and then Men “the Master” Nguyen bet out $600. I quickly decided to use my best false tell as I raised the pot up $1,200.
A “false tell” is a manufactured motion, movement, speech pattern, or simply the way you move the chips into the pot, which sends a subtle signal to your opponents that you are strong when you are weak, or weak when you are strong.
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The Problem With Playing Too Aggressively
At a recent World Poker Tour championship in Tunica, Miss., 100 players were remaining (out of 540 who had bought in), when I witnessed a showdown between 2004 “Champion of the Year” Daniel Negreanu and 2003 “Champion of the Year” Chip Jett. With the blinds at $500-$1,000, the antes at $200 a man, Jett opened for $3,100 with Ah-8h, and Negreanu called with Kc-Qc. Then the deal got very interesting.
After a flop of Jd-5c-3c, Negreanu had a king-high flush draw and two overcards (cards that are higher than the ones on the board, in this case the king and queen). Jett studied the situation and counted his chips — he had $22,000 total. After a few moments, Jett moved all-in, and Negreanu replied: “I have to call you.” When the hands were flipped up, I thought, “Ugh, I hate Chip’s tactics here, what was he thinking?”
Knowing how a player typically reasons, Jett was probably thinking two things:
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